VStrom DL650 - new pads and stainless steel brake lines

At my last safety inspection, I was told that the rear brake pads were getting a little thin and that I should consider replacing them soon.  The motor cycle is a 2006 and I had not changed the brake fluid or replaced the brake lines as of yet so this seemed like a good opportunity.

Here is the rear brake line - comes with the banjo bolts and copper washers and an installation DVD.

Here are the front brake lines.  I went for the 2 full line version instead of OEM.  A full line goes from the master cylinder to each front brake cylinder.  There is a double banjo for the master cylinder. No particular reason behind choosing the full 2 line kit - just want I found first.  I did buy the optional twin banjo with bleeder but have not installed it. 

Here are the new brake pads.  I went with upgraded front pads and OEM equivalent rear pads.  I did have some reasoning behind these which was driven by some advice on a VStrom related site.  Since the rear provides comparatively little brake power compared to the front brakes - I didn't want to promote locking up the rear so a normal set of pads was a logical choice.  I do feel that a bit more brake power at the front would be useful so I went with a minor upgrade but didn't want to get something which would wear through the rotors excessively fast.

Here is the left front line (and pads) installed.  Not much to look at but I feel a bit safer now that the old lines are gone.

Here is the rear line installed.

Here are the lines at the master cylinder.

This was my first motorcycle brake line replacement ever and first brake maintenance needed on this motorcycle.  I did take about 3 hours to replace all 6 pads and 3 brake lines + fluid.  Some of that was spent scrounging for tools and such.  I ended up using a couple hex wrenches (4 & 5mm I think), 3 or 4 socket sizes (broke a 14mm socket - not a quality item), flat blade screw driver, phillips screw driver, 1/4 clear tubing + tiny hose clamp (for bleeding brakes), a torque wrench - I have 2 but one really didn't seem to cut out when needed and I think I am fortunate nothing appears stripped out. 

Be careful routing the hoses. I did reuse some of the rubber grommet like things from the original hoses and existing hardware where possible.  I did use the piece supplied with the kit that attaches to the triple tree.  I faced that clamp piece towards the throttle - I didn't like the outcome when I tried going the other direction with it. 

DL650 front turn signal replacement/graft

As many other people mention, the DL650 turn signals are easily broken.  I found this out when I bumped the bike over into the riding mower one day which broke the front right signal beyond repair.

I wanted to replacement the front signals with something a little smaller and less fragile.  I had concern over replacing them with flush mount or short stalks due to DMV inspections.  What I finally decided on was grafting Lockhart Phillips units onto the stalk from the OEM units.  The end result was reasonable and meets the goals I had.

This image shows the OEM and the replacement for comparison.  

Here is the mess of pieces from my broken signal.  I hadn't cut the "extra" portion of the stalk off the broken signal at this point. A hacksaw worked fine on the rubber stalk but takes care to cut neatly.  Note that I had to cut the connectors off the unit so I could feed it through the hole in the OEM stalk.  A little soldering was done to connect the OEM connectors which made reconnecting to the wiring harness easy.

This shows what I kept from the OEM.  First remove the lens cover and take the hard plastic portion on the left off of the rubber stalk.  Below, I had already cut the "extra" portion of the rubber stalk off at about the point where it enters the hard plastic lens enclosure.

The basic reassembly is something like below.  I did put the black wire protector on but don't show that here.  Putting that black cover on was pretty time consuming.

Here is the basic result.  A little black gasket sealer was used to join and seal the new unit with the salvaged rubber stalk.  It holds together fine and the gasket sealer matches the fairly matte black of the rubber stalk portions.

Here is a comparison of OEM to the grafted result.  It looks slightly better on the bike. Using the OEM portion at the fairing prevents needing to find a way to cover the rest of the opening (that would not be covered by the new unit by itself) which would likely be somewhat difficult. 

[Edit 2014/02/25] Took a couple quick pictures of the end result.

DL650 VStrom Motorcycle maintenance success

I tend to like to attempt to fix things myself and after 26k miles it was time to replace the front and rear sprockets, chain, spark plugs and air filter.  I ride year round down to about 15 degrees as long as it isn't icy or expecting much rain.  This is mainly to save gas and reduce miles on our primary vehicles - I don't enjoy riding around with distracted drivers everywhere.

I had previously replaced the spark plugs and air filter without major incident but the rest was new.  Not having a motorcycle lift but knowing that appropriate tools tend to make or break activities like this - I decided to install an electric hoist in the garage.  Floor space is getting sparse and using a hoist allows me to remove both wheels for things like tire replacement or simply to ease chain maintenance.  The hoist worked very well in general although there was a bit of sway to deal with.

Since I am trying to be somewhat green, I replaced the throw away air filter with a washable K&N version which is supposed to flow more air.  Not sure whether the touted air flow will make a difference but not having to throw away more stuff made it a worthwhile investment.

I replaced the spark plugs with Iridium versions which I hope last longer and may provide a small power boost.  The previous plugs actually still look to be in pretty good shape.

The sprocket replacements were very straight forward.  I switched the front sprocket from 15 teeth to 16 and the rear from 47 to 44 teeth.  This reduced the RPM down to around 4300 @ an indicated 65MPH from just about 5000 RPM.  It is more relaxed and I hope to improve the fuel economy a bit.

The chain replacement was the more tedious item.  I have never worked with a "continuous chain" before.  This is a DID X link chain where you must press & rivet the link on (versus simply installing a clip on the side of the master link).  A bolt cutter worked nicely to remove the old chain.  I ended up ordering the DID KM501E tool since other methods discussed in various blogs made me a bit nervous.  The results with the appropriate tools are quite nice.

On top of the normal maintenance, I decided to install the Kouba links which have been laying around the garage for about 4 years.  These links reduce height of the read end by about 1 1/8 inches.  I lowered the front end about .9 inches.  I can now touch nearly flat footed which is nice but almost odd feeling after so long.  I wish I did this a long time ago.

So far, I have not noticed much difference in power after the gearing change.  It could be the better spark plugs and air filter made a small difference but I don't have any data to back that up.

My only real complaint through all this is that the plastic "rivets" which attach parts of the fairing together are very annoying on a good day.

Next maintenance will involve new brake pads which I noticed, during all this, are getting a bit thin.

I do want to credit the various contributors over at http://www.stromtrooper.com for great information which gave me enough confidence to tackle these tasks (years later than original posts in some cases).

UPDATE 2012/08/23:
The above changes have resulted in an average 65+ MPG with a high of 67.7 MPG compared to an average around 58-60MPG.  That gives me a range of around 380+ miles on a tank of gas.

Have a slight (single) click when braking which I haven't tracked down yet - seems likely related to either the lowering with the Kouba links or maybe a bolt needs to be slightly tighter.